Chapter 735 Who Is Lay Buddhist at Weiyu Pavilion?
“How could the prince not like this place? He handpicked some of the decorations here. Even if he doesn’t like it, he won’t give it to others,” Xiao Xuanzi said disapprovingly. The prince had lived here for quite a long time, and he liked many things in it very much, and he had even chosen some rare ones himself.
The door was right in front without anyone guarding it. It looked empty, and the room didn’t seem big when she looked in. But Shao Wanru knew that after entering the door, there was a staircase to the right. The upper floor was where she had used to live. There was good lighting. The scenery was also good. In her previous life, she was in a daze on it when she was free.
Compared to other experiences, being in a daze in the attic seemed to be the quietest scene in her memory. After going up the stairs and entering the room, she saw a large wicker chair in the window, facing the sun and the window sill. There were a few red plums in a delicate vase.
The light-colored curtains were hung high, and the veils were also half-hung on one side. The hanging sides were silver plum-shaped with a plum-shaped center and a little stamen made of opal fragments, which was very beautiful and elegant.
Shao Wanru trembled almost uncontrollably. This scene was the same as the scene she had seen in her memory. It was the same scene as she had seen when she was brought here that day.
How shocked she was at that time, because everything in front of her was too quiet and perfect, and she could hardly restrain herself from liking it.
After she moved in, she didn’t dare or want to move anything here. Everything was set up as before, and even the wicker chair by the window was kept in that same position.
In her two lives, how could she not be excited to see this place again?
Everything seemed to be back at the starting point, but she didn’t know anything. Her eyes turned red inexplicably. Did she forget the most important thing? “What’s the matter?” There came a gentle voice and it was Chu Liuchen.
“Is it your favorite place, Your Highness?” She sniffed hard and decided in her heart before turning around to look at Chu Liuchen with a smile.
“It’s not bad here.” Chu Liuchen’s eyes fell on Shao Wanru’s eye sockets. His eyes darkened a bit when he saw her teary eyes.
He went to the big wicker chair in front of the window and sat down. He raised his eyes to look at Shao Wanru, and pointed at the smaller wicker chair beside him, and said, “Sit here!”
Shao Wanru noticed that there was a small wicker chair in front of the big wicker chair. She had been too excited to notice it just now. So it was different. At least in her previous life, there was no such a small wicker chair.
She took a deep breath, walked over, and sat down graciously on the wicker chair. She raised her eyes to look at Chu Liuchen, and saw him squinting his eyes and looking rather lazily in the big wicker chair. She felt sorry.
Xiao Xuanzi brought them tea and retreated to the door with a grin. After thinking about it, he went downstairs to prepare cakes. Fifth Miss had just come back from the draft, so she should be hungry now. “Have you just been wronged?” Chu Liuchen asked casually.
His question came from nowhere, but Shao Wanru understood it all at once. She shook her head, and lowered her head, blus.h.i.+ng, “There was a nanny just now… is she your…?”
Her words were also very vague. It was really hard to say it. How could she ask whether the nanny who had cut her some slack at the first hurdle was Chu Liuchen’s people? When she thought about how she had pa.s.sed the first hurdle, she couldn’t help blus.h.i.+ng. How could a girl say that?
Chu Liuchen clearly understood, and he looked at her with a smile and said, “Did she give you a hard time?”
“No!” Shao Wanru blushed even more. In that situation, this was the best. At least she was allowed to keep her underwear.
“Next, there will be painters to paint you. Do you want to get painted earlier or later?” Chu Liuchen looked at Shao Wanru’s blus.h.i.+ng face in a very good mood. It was rare to see this girl look like this.
“Don’t interfere with this kind of thing!” Shao Wanru shook her head and refused.
Whether she was among the first or last ones, it was not a good thing. If the beauty of the draft stood out before the conclusion, she would be more likely to be framed, especially when there was ambitious Shao Yanru around. She could be sure that Shao Yanru would make trouble for her.
She was not afraid of Shao Yanru, but she didn’t want to get Chu Liuchen in trouble.
“It’s not a big deal. Even if I intervene, the empress won’t say anything. My Grandmother will explain it clearly to her!” Chu Liuchen said disapprovingly.
He didn’t want to comment on Shao Wanru. Since he had decided to marry her, it was enough for him to know whether she was good or bad.
He had wanted to ask the Imperial Grandmother to grand their marriage directly, but his grandmother decided that she’d better go through the procedure first.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Shao Wanru shook her head and refused.
When she saw the picture on another counter, she stood up, walked over, and looked at the signature of “Lay Buddhist at Weiyu Pavilion” on the scroll.
Her trembling fingers flicked across the paper, “Where is Weiyu Pavilion?”
“It’s a courtyard in the south of the Yangtze River. I’ve been there before, and I think it’s good!” Chu Liuchen didn’t hide it. He smiled and asked, “Why, do you know it’s me?”
Shao Wanru had asked this question that day, but he just made a perfunctory remark. As for the name, he had just said it casually and didn’t take it to heart. After that, he asked someone to carve him a seal and used it. When he painted later, he liked to use this signature.
It had no special meaning. “I… don’t know, but this name… sounds beautiful!” Shao Wanru lowered her head and slid her fingers across the signature, trying to conceal the excitement and tears in her eyes. She pressed her other hand on the corner of the table. The joints on the back of her hand were protruding from the exertion.
She was really stupid. It turned out that the missing piece of her memory was Chu Liuchen. It turned out that they didn’t meet for the first time in this life. They had seen each other in the last life.
Some of her painting skills had been taught by Chu Liuchen, but she had forgotten about him. She couldn’t remember anything about him, or how nice he had been to her!
Thousands of thoughts surged in her heart, making her hardly know what to say or how she felt. Was she sad, happy, or even excited?
“Originally I was thinking about changing the name. I thought it sounded good, so I just used it. You seem to have asked before. I guess my paintings have not yet been stolen!” Chu Liuchen also walked over, and looked at Shao Wanru with beautiful eyes, with an elegant faint smile on his face.
He acted as if he hadn’t noticed the excitement that Shao Wanru showed, but his eyes were deep. He didn’t have many paintings. He had taken this name casually. How did Shao Wanru know it?
She asked the question the last time, and now she was asking it again. It seemed that she was trying to hide something, but he would not ask. Chu Liuchen was still very satisfied with Shao Wanru’s bluntness. A very gentle smile slowly overflowed in his eyes. He stretched out his hand and gently touched the top of Shao Wanru’s hair, and said softly, “In the future, if you want to come over, come by yourself. I’ve given the order here.”
His voice was very gentle, even with a bit of pampering tone that Shao Wanru could hear. She subconsciously raised her head and saw Chu Liuchen’s loving eyes.
His eyes were beautiful. The slanting light of the setting sun fell on the corner of his eyes gently. He blinked, and his long eyelashes flickered, which made her heart tremble. It was soft, sour, and even astringent as if there was a voice repeating his name again and again.
Her eyes turned red involuntarily, and she could not hold back her tears anymore. She stretched out a hand to hold his sleeve and bit her lip, trying to suppress the sadness, sorrow, moving, or other emotions at the bottom of her heart. She could explain it clearly. She could only feel tears falling down her face uncontrollably.
In her memory, Chu Liuchen was fierce and violent. The palace was full of blood, and the gorgeous beauties were lying on the ground or on the steps. The b.l.o.o.d.y steps paved his way to imperial power, so she had always kept a watchful eye on him. Even though the relations.h.i.+p between the two had changed a lot unknowingly, she was still a little on guard.
After her rebirth, she was careful with every step, for fear of making any mistake and ending up with a terrible fate as in her last life. Even though she was sad and crying, she had to suppress herself fiercely, trying to make her heart cold and staggering alone on this road that led to nowhere, no matter how lonely and fearful it would be!
Under the shadow of her previous life, even though she had always acted as a strong woman in front of others, and even tried to keep everything in her hands, she was still a vulnerable girl.
She was afraid she would make the same mistake again. But right now, she didn’t want to think about anything else. She just wanted to cry presumptuously, even in front of Chu Liuchen who she had been wary of.
She had thought she was reborn, and she was fearless of anything. A person who died once should be the strongest. She had never thought that she would be so fragile and out of control, and she was crying so uncontrollably.
She should have apologized to him. Chu Liuchen had appeared in her life in the last life and showed her kindness. He had even taught her how to paint and gave her a place to rest. However, she was notorious at the time and was also an inauspicious person. If she hadn’t entered the palace, she might have been drowned by others.
After all, Wen Xichi had died at that time, and she was helpless and didn’t even have a home. She was even kicked out by Wen Mansion with such a reputation. If Wen Mansion had any follow-up actions, she would have probably been killed.
With the people at Duke Xing’s Mansion behind it, her fate was doomed.
She had never thought before that Qi Baiyu did not have that great ability. Even if he set foot on officialdom at that time, he couldn’t do that. He had a general at his back, but even so, it would have been impossible for him to meddle with things in the palace or even send her to the palace to paint portraits for the beauties.